A Pebble At A Time - Flooring Business Growing Beyond Northeast Ohio

By Dave Truman - Business Writer
The News Herald

Russ Masetta is building a flooring empire out or epoxy and pebbles.

Nature Stone, the company he and his wife, Antonia, started in 1989, has grown from a tiny operation to one with a reach that now covers virtually all of Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania.

The Northeast Ohio-based company has had great success with offices in Youngstown and Columbus. Last month, marketing began in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Once sales in those cities are large enough to warrant permanent expansion, they, too will get Nature Stone offices.

Nature Stone, which looks something like a carpet made of stone, started out as a product Masetta designed to replace and beautify damaged concrete.

Its uses and markets have grown over the years, including moves indoors to garage floors, the top-selling destination for Nature Stone floors, and basements.

"It's virtually indestructible indoors," Masetta said.

That confidence came only after years of research and development and through a constantly evolving manufacturing process.

The epoxy resin Nature Stone uses to hold its stone in place has become more durable over the years, and the top coats now used on every job solved a weakening effect inherent in the early installation process.

The company serves consumers in the rapidly growing home improvement market.

Larissa Marsh, spokeswoman for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, said consumers will spend about $214 billion on remodeling projects this year, up from $163 billion last year.

Marsh said some of that growth can be traced to aging Baby Boomers, who are retiring or slowing down at work and now have the time and money to spend on home projects. Another factor adding to the growth is the aging of homes built in the 1970's and 80's.

Masetta expects to begin selling dealerships soon, allowing Nature Stone to tap even more of the massive home improvement market.

Currently, the company has just one authorized dealer, in Erie, PA.

But the demand for dealerships has escalated with the success of the company.

"We get requests daily from people who want to sell it," Masetta said.

Finding properly qualified installers can be a problem, however. That has been one of the stumbling blocks for Nature Stone.

"There is no pool of quality, qualified installation professionals who can install the product," Masetta said. "Training installers takes a long time to get the level of expertise we expect.

"I want to continue to expand into new markets as our finances and our manpower dictates."

The company will also expand into home décor soon.

Mosaics featuring the state seal and the logo from the Cleveland Harborfest were hits, and licensed Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Indians logos were in demand after people saw them on display at the Harborfest.

But customers didn't want to incorporate them in to Nature Stone floors, as Masetta had originally thought. They wanted to hang them on their walls.

Nature Stone plans to test interest in a variety of wall hangings featuring licensed sports logos at an upcoming home show.

Unlike the customer floors the company has produced all along, the mosaics can be mass produced. Masetta said he would probably stick to two sizes for ease of manufacturing.